


Lifeline

by EzraTheBlue



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Bad Puns, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 13:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13008660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzraTheBlue/pseuds/EzraTheBlue
Summary: Gojyo has to go out on a tether to make repairs to their ship, but that doesn't mean he can't connect with Hakkai down the line.





	Lifeline

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt I received, a Space AU with humor. Enjoy!

**Lifeline**

Gojyo felt more than heard the faint clink of his boots magnetically attaching to the hull of the ship – not such a strong hold that he couldn’t move, just strong enough that he would be able to walk on the outside of the ship through the vacuum of the void. He did hear the airlock shut behind him, but gave his safety tether hooked at his navel a quick test tug before taking the first few steps. He squeezed the toolbox hanging in his left hand, then tapped the comm-link on the side of his helmet to open the feed as he gazed across the incline of the hull and into the abyss of ink-black space.  
  
“Houston? I just stepped out. You copy?”

There was a crackle, then a chuckle. “Loud and clear, Gojyo.” Hakkai’s voice was somehow still as crisp over the radio as his habitual smile was face to face. I can see you on surveillance, and according to the computer, your connection is sound. You appear to be secure.“

“Yeah.” Gojyo gave the tether one more quick tug. “Just figured I’d check my lifeline before I walked out into the wild black yonder.”

“Of course, of course. Take your time; my lifeline isn’t that short.” Gojyo heard Hakkai chuckle again, heard the chair creak, and imagined Hakkai in the engineering room below, stretching out just a little as he watched Gojyo on the cameras mounted to the outside of the craft. “It’s only a minor fray in the wires, it’s not as if we’ll stall out and crash into an inexplicably close satellite if we don’t repair it in the next ten seconds.”

“Yeah?” Gojyo checked his bearings using some of the guidelines painted on the hull, then walked on towards the fuse box in need of repairs. “Well, if you’re lying to me and we do crash, try to make sure we hit on the side of the ship I’m not on, I’d prefer to survive this joyride.”

Hakkai laughed a little, and Gojyo laughed too. He tromped precariously up the edge of the hull, around from the side to the top of the ship, still smirking at his own joke. The long hauls between the colonies could get a little dull, laughing at yourself was all you got sometimes. That, and Hakkai.

“The panel in need of repair is on your left, four meters.” Gojyo imagined Hakkai in his chair, watching intently, and quickly found the camera on one of the vents. He made sure to bend over so the curve of his ass faced the camera.

“You got a good view of it?” He grinned to himself as he found the panel he was looking for, and heard Hakkai laugh again.

“I don’t, I’m afraid there appears to be a half-moon obscuring my angle.”

Gojyo whistled, but moved aside as he dug into his toolbox for the screwdriver. “Jeez, I didn’t think I was half-assing, I mean, I came all the way out here…” He trailed off as Hakkai stifled another laugh.

“You can make all the jokes you like when you’re safely inside again. I promise I’ll laugh just as hard.”

“Aw, come off.” Gojyo grinned, then pried the panel away. He attached it to the hull with another magnet, then leaned down into the open fuse box. “You’re hardly laughing now.”

“I promise, you’re funny. I just want you to focus. I can’t see into the panel from the surveillance, but I need you to look for the purple wire.”

“Got it.” Gojyo tucked a gloved finger in under a charred-looking wire. “Purple and black?”

“Oh, dear, is it that bad?”

“Yeah, I’m seeing a dent on the panel here, we must have gotten a rocky little visitor who didn’t knock loud enough for us to let him in.” Gojyo knocked on the panel, then traced a little groove where a meteorite might have hit. “We got any clue when that might'a hit us? Any recent meteor showers on record?”

“I’m afraid not, The minor ones don’t register.” Hakkai made an unhappy noise, and Gojyo turned his head around, looking as far as he could see. He’d thought that, when he got into space, he might see the stars a little closer, they’d look a little bigger, but they were just as far away as ever. He couldn’t see much out here, even the ambient light from the nearest star only lighting the white hull of their cargo ship. He couldn’t see any meteors coming anyway, but then, he hadn’t seen much since joining this crew that he couldn’t have seen on the colony. 

Except Hakkai. He’d met Hakkai. That was a pretty bright spot.

“It doesn’t look fresh,” Gojyo remarked after a moment, then looked the panel over. “We can probably get by with the panel as-is ‘til we next reach port, ‘less you think you can work your magic on it.”

“Magic, Gojyo?” Hakkai sounded amused, anyway, and Gojyo smirked to himself as he got his clippers out of the toolbox and made to cut the busted wire out. “You’re the handyman.”

“No, I’m the guy who carries the heavy stuff and does the stuff Goku and Sanzo don’t know how to or can’t do.”

“I’d say that’s pretty handy." 

Gojyo snorted. "Well, sure. You’d have to jettison me with the rest of the trash if I weren’t useful–”

“– Gojyo, now. Focus on your work so you can come back in before we do come into contact with another meteorite field.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Gojyo flapped a hand as if Hakkai were over his shoulder instead of four decks down, and got the replacement wire from his box and stripped the ends, nice and easy. The purple rubber bobbed in the void around him as he got the torch lit, until he remembered it wouldn’t just drop to the ground like so many socks poorly pitched at his and Hakkai’s hamper. “Hah, look at me, making a mess even out here.”

“As if there weren’t already enough debris floating around.” Gojyo could hear Hakkai smiling. “Let me know when it’s safe to return power to that circuit.”

“Gimme just a minute.” He twisted the exposed ends together, then put the torch to it. “You always rush me when I’m out here.”

“What can I say? I prefer you inside, making bad jokes to my face rather than just into the comm link.” Hakkai’s chair creaked, and Gojyo chuckled a little to himself.

“Why do you think I keep making bad jokes, babe?” Gojyo finished soldering the wire back into place, then tested the connection with a two battery strips connected to an LED light. The light lit when Gojyo completed the circuit. “Wire’s back in. Let me just put the panel back and we’re golden." 

Hakkai, meanwhile, just laughed under his breath. "I thought you just liked making me laugh, no matter where you are.”

“Yeah, I do.” Gojyo screwed the panel back in and rose back to a stand. He felt more than heard the soles of his boots click as they reconnected to the hull, holding him fast there, like Hakkai’s silence down the comm gave him pause. “But when there ain’t much out here except space, rocks, meteorites, and you, I gotta be sure my lifeline’s there, no matter how short or long it is.”

Hakkai was quiet still, as Gojyo started back towards the airlock. “I’ll be waiting for you in our quarters.”

“I won’t keep you waiting, 'less you holler for me not to come just yet.” Gojyo grinned to himself again, Hakkai laughed again, and Gojyo followed his lifeline back. 


End file.
